The Rangers have acquired defenseman Carson Soucy for the third round pick that they acquired earlier today when they traded Reilly Smith.
Soucy, 30, is left shot, 6-5, 208 and signed through next season with a cap hit of $3.25 million. He waived his no-trade clause to come to the Rangers and he has a modified no-trade clause next season.
He has three goals and seven assists in 59 games this season. He is averaging 18:22 per game this season and has 92 blocks and 86 hits this season. Soucy is averaging 2:09 per game shorthanded.
He was teammates with Will Borgen in Seattle before signing with Vancouver as a free agent. He was teammates with JT Miller in Vancouver. Miller reportedly called Soucy to help convince him to come to the Rangers. (Dhawliwal)
Soucy was made available by the Canucks after they acquired Marcus Petterson on the same day that they traded JT Miller to the Rangers. (The Athletic)
Adam Rotter: If the Rangers were going to do anything else at this deadline it was likely going to be acquiring a defenseman for more depth. Soucy is a bit more than that and the fact that he is signed through next season had to be appealing for the Rangers. He basically fills Ryan Lindgren’s role and he profiles similarly as a rugged, more defensive defenseman. The Rangers have to be hoping that, similar to Will Borgen, a change of scenery will help Soucy as he has not been as good this season as he has been in the past. We’ll see where he ends up slotting in on defense. He could step into Ryan Lindgren’s spot next to Adam Fox when Fox returns or K’Andre Miller can move up to go with Fox and Soucy pairs up with Will Borgen. He and Borgen were paired together for a chunk of the 22-23 season in Seattle and so there is familiarity there.
The fact that he is signed makes this a move for this season and next and also helps some of the Rangers depth issues on defense. It’s a move that makes the Rangers better as they look to make the playoffs and gives them cost certainty and one less spot to fill in the offseason.
So the Rangers end up turning Reilly Smith into Soucy and Brendan Brisson and that is a pretty good return for someone in Smith that wasn’t going to be back.